TN takes fresh look at museum plans for Sulphur Dell area

Metro proposal includes new state buildings at Sulphur Dell ballpark site

Aug. 23, 2013

Around the ballpark
Conceptual locations for new state facilities and Nashville Sounds stadium as part of the Sulphur Dell Redevelopment Plan:
1 Future Tennessee State Museum
2 Future Tennessee State Library and Archives building
3 Multifamily development site
4 Future parking garage for state employees and stadium visitors

Written by

Joey Garrison

The Tennessean

As Mayor Karl Dean makes his push for a new minor league baseball stadium near Bicentennial Mall, state officials are looking to one day build a new state museum, library and archives in the same area.

Together, a long-neglected part of town could eventually find itself with three new landmark destinations — though it’s still unclear when either state project might happen.

The possibility of a new Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Library and Archives — discussed for years but never carried out — was referenced in a proposal obtained by The Tennessean Wednesday detailing the mayor’s initiative for a new Nashville Sounds ballpark. Dean is eying the former Sulphur Dell site, Nashville’s original home for professional baseball, situated between downtown and the Germantown neighborhood.

The state recently approved more than $3 million to create new plans for both after older versions became dated, a sign that interest has at least picked up.

Both projects, slated for state-owned land, are outlined in the state’s 1998 Bicentennial Master Plan. This document has never gained steam, and the mall remains surrounded by surface parking lots.

A mayor’s office document obtained by The Tennessean shows the state library and archives building and museum going directly east of Bicentennial Mall. The TSLA building would go north of Jackson Street at Sixth Avenue, with the museum going between the mall and the proposed stadium.

Under this scenario, the museum appears to be slated for property where a state-owned data center exists, though Dave Smith, press secretary for the governor, said the site selection isn’t finalized.

Study phase begins

The state building commission, made up of top state officials and constitutional officers, voted this month to approve $475,000 to begin planning the project. This includes hiring a museum consultant to create a master plan that will lead to a conceptual program, site analysis, conceptual operating plan and funding plan.

A master plan could be finalized within six to eight months after the consultant is hired.

The Tennessee State Museum, founded in 1937, has operated out of downtown Nashville’s James K. Polk building, where the Tennessee Performing Arts Center is also housed — for the past 32 years.

“The museum has outgrown its space,” Smith said. “We want to look at what kind of plan can be developed that is realistic.”

If the project gets the go-ahead, 25 percent of its cost is to be funded by the private sector, which would likely come from the museum’s ongoing fundraising efforts.

Building outgrown

The state library and archives building, built in 1953, sits directly west of the state Capitol on Seventh Street.

It, too, according to Blake Fontenay, communications director for the Tennessee Department of State, is no longer sufficient in size.

“The state library has a large need for more space,” he said. “They continue to gather more and more documents, and they’re just really out of room.”

The state building commission approved $2.6 million this month to begin revised plans for the library and archives building. The intent is to find a way to build a cheaper facility than the $76 million structure that had been identified.

Fontenay said the plan for the old library and archives building is to accommodate Tennessee Supreme Court office expansion.

Funding needed

Both the museum and library and archives projects lack a project timeline. And for now, they both lack dedicated funding from the Tennessee General Assembly, leaving open the question of whether the plans will ever get implemented.

Asked whether the governor has a priority of reinvigorating the Bicentennial Mall area, Smith, the governor’s spokesman, simply pointed to the projects’ long history of discussions and upcoming master-planning processes.